Curve Dominate. I Like That Word. Dominate.

The smoldering hot Curve celebrated their return home in style with a dominating 7 to 1 victory over the struggling Reading Phillies (or, in the vernacular, 'R-Phils.') Justin Wilson was lights-out, racking up 5 strikeouts against only one walk, allowing two hits and no runs over five innings.

Wilson was pinch hit for in the bottom of the fifth, which was weird because:
(a) Wilson was dominating, had a shutout going and had thrown only 76 pitches;
(b) The game was already well in hand, with the Curve up 7-0; and
(c) The pinch hitter was Shelby Ford, who has been hitting only marginally better than Wilson this year.

True, the bases were loaded, but the score was already 7-0 and there were two outs. Matt Walbeck has a very quick hook with his starters; whether that's his own tendency or dictated to him by the Pirates brass, I don't know, but would guess it's the Pirates' doing. I can't say I'm fond of it. At the very least Wilson could have gone one more inning, two if he has an easy sixth, with no risk to his arm at all.

Justin Wilson pitches for the best team in the Eastern League, has a 2.80 ERA and has struck out 47 men (walking 22) in 45 innings--and last night's win improved him to a 3-4 record. Oh, won-lost records, your fickleness knows no end.

As for the Curve, they're well ahead of the Eastern League pack mostly because of their spectacular starting pitching. Wilson, Rudy Owens, and Jared Hughes have all been superb all year, Tim Alderson's pitched much better than his sky-high ERA suggests, and Bryan Morris just joined the team and picked up where he'd left off in the Sally League (kicking ass). The Huntingdon Administration has seemed methodical about promoting pitchers--item: why exactly in the nine hells is Brad Lincoln still in Indianapolis?--and there are more interesting pitchers in West Virginia yet to come; it's likely the Curve will enjoy tremendous pitching all year, and will, absent injuries, be favorites to win the Eastern League title.

On the offense, the Curve attack was fueled largely by--finally!--their 1-2 hitters, Chase d'Arnaud and Gorkys Hernandez, who went a combined 5-for-8 with 2 walks. d'Arnaud scored two; Hernandez drove in two. Everybody in the lineup except Kris Watts and the pitchers reached base, though Jordy Mercer had to get there the hard way, getting drilled in the forearm by the very wild Phillippe Aumont, who walked two and drilled two in the first inning, and didn't get much better after that.

TIDBITS 'R US

• Some guy whose name I have forgotten came up between innings and set fire to everyone's childhoods with his attempts to sing 'Summer of '69' and 'Bad Moon Rising'. I couldn't help but laugh at watching Rudy Owens stare at him, 'God, I can't wait to get to the major leagues and never have to sit through this ever again' written all over his face. Fun times. Hey, between-innings entertainment ranging from amusing to pointless to painful is part of the minor league experience, right?

That reminds me: The Curve run a pregame show, which they display on the big board, before each game and always have some player or staff member on as a guest. A couple weeks ago Jim Negrych was on there, and was asked what was his goal for the season. Well, every player in the minor leagues has the same goal for every season; you'll be waiting a long time for someone to say, "I hope to stay in Altoona long enough at $20,000 a year to have my number retired here."

Jim Negrych has one of those outspoken, I-don't-really-give-a-crap-what-you-think personalities and flunked out of cliché school, so his response made me laugh out loud for its wonderful honestly: My goal, he said, is to get the hell out of Altoona. Well, he didn't say exactly those words, but that was definitely the message. I wish him every luck in his attempt. His best ticket out probably involves learning to play five positions and hit well enough to be a viable major league bench player in the era of the five man bench.

• Left fielder Alex Presley, continuing to channel his inner Stan Musial, went 2-for-4 with a scorching double, raising his Eastern League leading batting line to .375/.411/.565. I would like to see Presley play more center field and Gorkys Hernandez bumped to right; Presley will never be a plus glove in center, but if he can handle the position at all it massively enhances his prospect status. As for Gorkys, well, his prospect status is fading fast, and anyway he is certainly never going to play center field for the Pirates.

• Chase d'Arnaud, for the record, is looking much better with the bat and the glove of late after a terrible introduction to AA. He's playing with a lot more confidence, which is very encouraging news for Pirates fans; if he maintains his skill base as he moves up, d'Arnaud should be the Pirates' opening day shortstop in 2012, which is when the Pirates are aiming at really starting to compete.

• In the 3rd inning, awesomely named Reading catcher Tuffy Gosewisch ripped a line drive into right; Miles Durham misplayed it, stepping forward, and then had to leap as the ball threatened to sail over his head. He made the catch, the fans applauded, and I got a good chuckle.
  

Sadly, I have to report that Miles Durham is expected to spend the next 10-to-15 years in state prison after his vicious carjacking of Reading superstar Dominic Brown in the sixth inning. Brown hit a beautiful home run off Dustin Molleken in the 6th, a hard 'fliner' (as we at BIS call it) that cleared the (very deep) right field wall by three feet--and then Miles Durham flew into the picture like Michael Jordan and robbed him with a spectacular catch.